Kremlin Issues Nuclear Warning Aimed At West As Ukraine Peace Efforts Stall

Russia has issued a fresh nuclear warning aimed at the West at an ultra-sensitive moment that diplomatic engagement with the US on efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine are stalling.

Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu laid out in fresh comments that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if under direct aggression from Western nations, which includes close ally Belarus coming under threat.

Shoigu reminded the world that new amendments made to Russia's nuclear doctrine back in November means Russian leaders can "use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against it or the Republic of Belarus, including with the use of conventional weapons."

He further warned nuclear doctrine can be activated "in the event of foreign states committing unfriendly actions that pose a threat to the sovereignty and territory integrity of the Russian Federation, our country considers it legitimate to take symmetric and asymmetric measures necessary to suppress such actions and prevent their recurrence."

There was a carrot-and-stick aspect to the fresh warning, given that Shoigu pivoted to saying Russia is ready to forge a new nuclear pact with Washington, despite soaring tensions centered on Ukraine.

"Russia is prepared to resume talks on nuclear arms control with the US, two years after suspending the last accord limiting their atomic arsenals," he has been further quoted in international reports as saying.

"The administration of Donald Trump is currently demonstrating a readiness to resume dialogue on the issue of strategic stability," Shoigu told TASS in an interview published Thursday. “We are ready for such work.”

The hope is that some kind of new strategic pact could come out of recent efforts of US and Russian delegations to normalize diplomatic relations during bilateral talks.

Both sides have by now recognized that the conflict in Ukraine is a proxy war pitting NATO against nuclear-armed Russia. Russia increasingly has international backers too, and is reportedly using Iranian and North Korean advanced weapons.

Prior to the war's start, one activist group and nuclear monitor, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), estimated that a nuclear war between the US and Russia would see nearly 100 million casualties in just the first few hours of nuclear warhead exchanges alone. 

"34.1 million people could die, and another 57.4 million could be injured, within the first few hours of the start of a nuclear war between Russia and the United States triggered by one low-yield nuclear weapon, according to a new simulation by researcher’s at Princeton‘s Science and Global Security program," the group said.